An appellate court has upheld a four-month prison sentence of a former Shelby County Sheriff's deputy involved in a fatal crash.

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals this week rejected the petition of Alvin Dortch, who was convicted last year of filing a false report, according to The Commercial Appeal. Dortch was acquitted by the trial court of a reckless homicide charge.

In 2008, Dortch shot out the tire of a fleeing DUI suspect whose car crashed moments later, killing him. Investigators didn't discover that Dortch had fired at the vehicle until they reviewed dashboard video more than 12 hours after the incident.